4 WTC close to landing first private-sector tenant

The likely 120,000-square-foot deal would come at an opportune time for landlord Larry Silverstein, who is hoping to land a loan guarantee from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to put up 3 World Trade Center next door.

Photo: Bloomberg News
MediaMath may lease as much as 120,000 square feet in 4 World Trade Center.

The brand-new tower at 4 World Trade Center looks to be close to landing its first private-sector tenant. MediaMath, a firm that develops online advertising software, is in negotiations to lease a big office at the glass-clad, 72-story, 2.3 million-square-foot behemoth, according to sources familiar with the talks.

MediaMath would relocate to the building from midtown, where it currently bases its New York offices out of 1440 Broadway near Bryant Park. The company is in talks to take as much as 120,000 square feet in a deal that would include expansion rights that would allow the fast-growing firm to take additional space in the tower in the future.

Rents in the tower are in the $70s and $80s per square foot depending on the floor. MediaMath, a Crain's Fast 50, is considering space in the middle of the building, according to sources.

4 World Trade Center, designed by the Pritzker Prize winning architect Fumihiko Maki, was completed late last year and is the first tower to open directly on the World Trade Center site. The building, which was built by Silverstein Properties, is anchored by both the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which together will occupy over one million square feet there. Both are in the process of moving in.

So far however, no private sector leases have been signed. In a conversation with Crain's in recent days, Larry Silverstein, the founder and chairman of Silverstein Properties, said that has commitments for a substantial portion of 4 World Trade Center's remaining one million square feet of vacant space. Mr. Silverstein didn't reveal the identity of those tenants.

The arrival of private sector tenants making substantial commitments for space in the building comes at an opportune time for Mr. Silverstein. In less than two weeks, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center site, is set to consider a deal to guarantee $1.2 billion of loans that Silverstein Properties needs in order to develop another office tower there, 3 World Trade Center.

Controversy has erupted over whether the Port Authority should do the deal, which some critics say Silverstein Properties should do when it can source the loans from the private financing market without the Port Authority's help. The deals would appear to help answer another question though: whether there will be enough demand from tenants to fill all the square footage at the site that Silverstein Properties wants to create.

MediaMath specializes in creating systems and software that connect online advertisements with users who will be most likely to look at them. The company is part of a wave of tech and media firms that have headed downtown as other areas of the city, like midtown and midtown south, have grown more expensive.